The present invention relates to a modular building panel, and more particularly, to one made of a polymeric material.
The use of modular building panels can result in significant time and labor savings over conventional construction techniques. The panels can be prefabricated in bulk to take advantage of economies of scale and to greatly reduce on-site labor.
In the past, modular building panels have been constructed through the compression of a variety of materials such as sand, sawdust and woodchips. U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,807 issued Sep. 23, 1958, to Altschuler discloses modular building panels constructed by assembly of two panel halves. The panel halves are compressed using a press, and internal voids are created by expanding air cells incorporated into the mold. The internal voids reduce the weight of the panels and reduce the amount of materials necessary for their fabrication. An adhesive is used to join the two panel halves. Dove-tailed grooves are molded into the ends of the panels, and completed panels are connected by filling these grooves with cement. The Altschuler panel is relatively heavy. Installation of wire and insulation in the assembled panels is difficult at best. Further, adhesive bonding of adjacent panels is both expensive and labor intensive.
In time, advances in plastic molding technology made it possible for modular building panels to be made from strong and light-weight polymeric materials. U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,839 issued Nov. 23, 1976 to La Borde discloses snap-together modular building panels that employ an interlocking design to adjoin completed panels. The La Borde panels are comprised of two panel halves each separately molded which snap together via male and female connectors molded into the panel halves. The completed panels have either inverted or everted panel ends which interlock to connect adjacent panels. This construction requires two distinctly fashioned panels and therefore two distinct molds. This increases the cost of production and means the panel halves are not completely interchangeable. Further, installation of wiring and insulation is difficult at best.